The present invention relates to accelerometers, in particular to micromechanical accelerometers.
Semiconductor materials such as mono and polycrystalline silicon, and semiconductor mass production fabrication techniques have been used to produce micromechanical accelerometers, as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,194. More sophisticated devices employ more advanced technology to yield monolithic micromechanical accelerometers, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,805,456 and 4,851,080.
Advances in micromechanical transducer technology are described in Applicant's co-pending, commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/372,653 entitled BRIDGE ELECTRODES; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/373,032 entitled RESTRAINTS FOR MICROMECHANICAL DEVICES; U.S. patent Application Serial No. 07/560,374 entitled MOTION RESTRAINTS FOR MICROMECHANICAL DEVICES; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/470,938 entitled MICROMECHANICAL DEVICE WITH A TRIMMABLE RESONANT FREQUENCY STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF TRIMMING SAME; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/493,327 entitled SEMICONDUCTOR CHIP GYROSCOPIC TRANSDUCER, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention is concerned with application of such advances specifically to accelerometers and further advancement of monolithic micromechanical accelerometers.